Mud Pie Studio

Cheers... !

2011-07-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

Custom Beer Steins are taking over.... !

They have become so popular I have barely been able to keep up. To tell the truth, they would have made fabulous Groomsmen Gifts at our wedding. Too bad I wasn't a potter back then.

I wanted to showcase some pictures of the steins in their natural habitat. Starting with the studio, and then some of my favorite customer pictures.

In the Studio

Josh and Kristin, Courtesy of Heidi-O-Photography

Cali Wedding Stein in action, Thank you Wendy!

Cali Wedding, Thank you Wendy!

Josh and Kristin, Courtesy of Heidi-O-Photography

A 2010 Favorite, Thanks Jaime!

Mary Elizabeth Arts: In the Studio with Mud Pie

2010-10-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

art in a variety of mediums: In the Studio with Mud Pie
Recent "Interview" with Mary
(who is either standing next to a massive flower, or has an unusually small head!)

Did you know that September is the slowest retail month of the year? Neither did I, but an artist friend recently informed me. Since my workload in September is carried over from August, I wouldn't have noticed a lull. I've been going a bit batty with my current workload, to tell you the truth. The artist that informed me of this factoid was Mary of Mary Elizabeth Arts.

Mary stopped by last week, and decided to bring her camera and
give me some face time on her blog. Had I been fully awake at the time, I'm not sure I would have committed to photos of myself or my studio in our current abused and overworked condition.

It was really nice having company in the studio, and someone to talk to besides the dog, while working. Mary would actually make quite a fabulous potter. We discussed working on some collaborative pieces after the holiday season, and I think it would be brilliant. She's a very talented painter, currently making her living placing her art on functional canvases, like glassware and textiles.

Some of her work on Etsy:

She sent me the link yesterday to the post, and my first thought, was "Wow, that looks like a real potter!" Followed by a "Wait, that's me..."

Funny how I am, still, after almost a year as a full time artist, having trouble wrapping my head around it. Almost 4 years after I stated to my, very skeptical, family and friends, "I am going to be a Potter." Here I am, a potter. Perhaps now they will take me more seriously when I claim that I will be featured in Martha Stewart's line one day...

Etsy Front Page

2010-09-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

View Treasury on Craft Cult

Etsy Front Page Today :)

Thanks so much to the Etsian who curated it: marissagregory

The word “Etsy” is a registered trademark, trademark of Etsy, Inc.

Mud Pie 2, Review and Giveaway! Coffee Month, Susie's Scraps of Life

2010-08-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Enter to win one of my pottery cups, and read the review of my Custom Name Mug!
Susie of Susie's Scraps of Life, received a personalized mug to review.

It's really fabulous, and her writing and descriptions are great! I especially love the part about drinking out of a handmade mug. I have an insane collection of them at my house, and I don't know that I could ever go back to the 'other' mugs...

She's also hosting a giveaway. Register to win the "Dream" teacup, featured on her site under giveaways.

Mud Pie 2, Review & Giveaway

Pottery Shows This Weekend. May 21 & 22.

2010-05-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

Spring is here. Which means it's time to get your butts out there and support your local artists!

It's Spring Art Show Season!

There are some fabulous gallery openings and shows coming up this weekend.
((NOTE * I will not be participating in either show, but I hope to see y'all there*))

Claymakers Gallery

Left to Right, Liz Zlot Summerfield, Susan Feagin, Amy Sanders

I just got a sneak peek at the new Exhibit at Claymakers.

It's called Folded, Fitted, Printed and Pinched. Featuring mostly handbuilt work by ceramic artists Laura Avery, Susan Feagin, Shawn Ireland, Mimi Logothetis, Barbara McKenzie, Amy Sanders,
Liz Slot Summerfield and others...

I love Liz's work. The different mix of gloss and matte finishes, textures and embellishments are fabulous!

Opening Reception: Friday May 21st, 6-9 pm.
705 Foster Street
Durham, NC 27701-2110
(919) 530-8355

ClayWorks Studio Tour Sale

Left to Right, Teresa Pietch, Emily Cox, Deborah Harris

ClayWorks Potters Guild is also having a Studio Tour Sale this Saturday, May 22 from 10am to 4pm. There will be 4 different locations in Durham with Multiple Potters at each location. Locations are in Garrett Farms, Hope Valley and Woodcroft.

For Maps and Information, please see the Event Page.

Snow Day...

2010-02-01T08:50:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, Mud Pie Studio is NOT going to be closed due to inclement weather. Which is too bad, since it would have been a great day to stay in bed. Just kicking the heaters up a notch, and glazing away...

I know that every southerner is saying this right now, but I can't help it. It's not supposed to snow in central NC!! This is why I live in the South. Granted, it's beautiful, for about a day... now it would be great if it would just melt, and go back up to 55, like it's supposed to be!

Even though I'd be getting the day off if I still had an office job... I don't miss the cubicle one bit. I'd rather freeze my butt off and do exactly what I'm doing. I do, however, miss the paycheck today. The term "starving artist" was coined for a reason. Not that I'm starving, but the bills are definitely not getting paid in a timely fashion like they used to be. This is going to be a particularly rough month. It's that lapse after the Holidays. Everyone is just getting their credit card bills from December and January.... and that's not making for motivated shoppers.

I can't say I wasn't forewarned. I knew it would be tough. When the going gets tough, the tough eat a lot of eggs, soup and pasta....

Foster Puppy...

2010-01-18T16:23:00.000-08:00

Meet Clementine.
She's from the Durham APS. http://www.apsofdurham.org/clementine/
She's our second foster of the year. I typically try to do some volunteer work or donate to a cause around the holidays, but I was very busy, and pretty broke this past Christmas, so I decided to foster a dog instead.

The Durham Shelter is overcrowded in general, but especialy this time of year. A lot of surrenders... I don't understand that. Life gets a little stressful and you give a member of the family away. I suppose those people shouldn't have dogs anyway... but it's still inexcusable.

Anyway, our first foster pup went super fast - she was adopted within a few days of us getting her. So we decided to get one more.

This is day 3 with Clementine in the house. Today she finally became a normal dog!! I am so thankful! It's hard to advertise for a home for her when I think she's a psychopath! Ok, not really a psychopath, but a handfull. I think it just took her a few days to adjust. She was in the pound for a long time, poor thing, and she just got VERY OVERWHELMED by everything when she got to our house. She ran around all the time, wanted to wrestle with my dog all the time, had little excited peeing accidents all the time, and chased the poor cats all the time....

Needless to say, unless she was in her crate, I was not getting much pottery done. So today was my first super productive day in 3 days. I'm so thrilled. I only got half the things done I should have the last few days... I'm impressed that orders will be going out tomorrow. Thank goodness for a late night glazing project the day before yesterday.

Now don't be put off if you're in the market for a dog :) She's awesome now. No more of any of those "all the time" things listed above. No more accidents.... thank goodness. She's actually brilliant now. She's learned sit, down, come, fetch... in 3 days. She's a little puppy Einstein!

I am just very thankful I got some work done today. I even had time for a post. Granted, it has nothing to do with pottery, but it's a start :)

More pics of the Psychopath turned Angel:

Etsy Front Page, Lucky Week

2010-01-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

Wow - I'm suprised by how many front page appearances those birdies make! It's wonderful!
Thanks to those who put my pottery in their Treasuries!
Here are Front Page Screenshots (courtesy of CraftCult.com)

Jan 14, 2010 (leaf dish)

Jan 10, 2010 (soap dish)

Jan 10, 2010 (Birdie Mug)

Custom Mugs Start to Finish

2010-01-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

It's the home stretch.
I didn't realzie how many orders I'd gotten after my Holiday Deadline, so I had my hands full the last couple weeks. I'm almost completely caught up!
I should have another day or two of throwing and most of them will be en route to their new homes in the next 2 weeks. I'm aiming to have them all out by the end of January. Many of them came in after Christmas too. Those may be going home the first week of Febuary.

You think I'd be sick of mugs by now, but I'm not. It's a mystery. A happy mystery at least.

The pictures are start to finish...

The Last Batch In Progress...

2010-01-05T06:26:00.000-08:00

The finish line is in sight. These are part of the last batch of Custom Mugs from the Holiday Season. Due to a high volume of orders, I had to make the Christmas deadline Nov. 7th. Some folks decided that they didn't mind "late" presents, so there are about 50 mug orders from after that date. They should be out this week and next...

I'm thrilled that I was so busy this Christmas, but I'm glad the end is in sight. I'd love a breather to build up my inventory again.

The mugs pictured are in different stages of drying before the bisque firing.

New Website Up!

2010-01-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

Yay! I've been meaning to update my boring old site for...
well, a year now! Finally done.
Still needs some tweaking, but at least it's presentable.
(I really hate web design...yuck)

The Clean Potters Wheel Theory

2010-01-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

Professional or Newbee?

Jan 1st, The Christmas chaos is over, and I can finally relax a bit. So, the first thing I do is clean my wheel. Which always reminds me of something a friend said to me when she first came into my studio:

"That is the cleanest pottery wheel I have ever seen! Every one I've seen has been covered in clay!"

Now that you mention it, me too! Every professional potters wheel I've ever seen has been filthy. Every studio tour, web tutorial, every wheel I've ever seen that was not in a shared space has been caked with muck. So what is wrong with me?

The Communal Studio Theory

The "I don't have to clean MY wheel" theory...

Many of us started out in a communal studio. Taking classes, open studio hours... It hasn't been that long for me. About 2 years ago I was toting my ware back and forth from the wheel at Claymakers to the kiln at my house. It actually never bothered me then that I had to clean the wheel after every use. I never knew it any other way. I'll admit it, now there are times during classes that I choose not to throw because I don't want to deal with all that cleanup for just 45 minutes of throwing.

The Messy Artist Theory
The "I play with dirt all day, why bother?" theory...
There is some truth to this. It's a dirty job. There are days when I find clay handprints on my doors, or when I go out in public and don't realize I have a streak of clay on my face, or clay caked in my hair... It's just everywhere! I actually love that part - I've never really enjoyed clean jobs. So it is totally understandable that eventually one would just say, "why bother? It's just going to get dirty again tomorrow."

My Clean Wheel
There are 2 reasons I so frequently clean my own wheel.

The first is it's a frest start for me between orders. Yesterday, I cleaned my wheel to signify to myself that my 180+ Christmas mug orders were finished. It's a relief to me, and I sit down at my clean wheel and think, "Ah... that's over. Time for something fresh and new."

The second is that I still clearly remember those communal studio days. There was nothing I wanted more in the whole wide world than my own wheel! It made me sad to see the thing I wanted most all caked with muck in other people's studios. I remember thinking to myself, "If I had my own wheel, I would never let it get like that!" So, I still think about that now.

Perhaps one day when the novelty has worn off, I'll wear my caked on dirt as a badge of honor too. Like, "Look everyone - I've really made it! I'm dirty too!" Until then, I'll just be weird.

Hi, My Name Is...

2010-01-01T11:18:00.000-08:00

I have always been an artist, and I have always loved pottery.

That said, I was shocked when I took my first pottery class and I was horrible at it! :) Gifted or not, you just can't sit down in front of a wheel for the first time (or tenth time) and magically make an amazing piece.

So, in full force, I set off on my quest to master this frustrating ball of clay.
I quit my stable job, and just dove in. 3 years later, I look back, and I'm thrilled that I stuck with it. Broke, frustrated, all of it... I wouldn't change a thing.

My first career was as a Land Planner, a Landscape Architect. Despite the stability and creative aspects of my job, I was restless and distracted. It was a very scary transition from the world of Cubicles, Direct Deposit, and Company Matched 401k's.... into the "Career" of Art.

It hasn't been that long for me, so I still remember all my firsts. My first art show, my first sale, my first customer complaint... I love all of it. The good and the bad. I know I sound like a cheesy inspirational poster, but it's been the best experience ever, and I know it's only going to get better.

I love what I do.I love my customers.I love creating art that people can use in their daily lives.

Though I have gotten over the initial fear of that intimidating ball of clay, Pottery is an Art Form that you can constantly learn, change, and better. I look forward to continuing on.

Thanks to every one who has encouraged, supported.... and even criticized me. I wouldn't be here without any of you.

Stacy ShepanekCeramic ArtistDurham, North Carolina